E46 330CI Coupe

[Stued]

Hi All, back in a BMW after a sojourn in a jag (Mondeo in drag) and Shogun Sport, mid life crisis I guess.

Anyway, after I had to scrap the Jag and the shogun going pop, I thought I better get a BMW as the two I owned previously never let me down, I came across a 2002 330ci se Coupe in need of a lot of TLC, every panel scratched, some rust around the front wheel arches, an interior you would not want to sit in, manual trans, in black sapphire metallic with 19'' AC schnitzer alloys. I got it for what I thought was a good price, was I admit a bit ambivalent about it when I picked it up, however after the 40 mile drive home I started to like it. Now after a weekend of fettling I love it, most of the scratches have gone, the drivers seat has been rewired and stitched, all the leather has been cleaned, fed and protected and paint has been ordered to tackle the rusty arches. However this still leaves me with the slipping clutch only slips when you are aggressive on the throttle, but me being me it has to be changed...…… I have no problem with doing this myself, but, if cubs taught me anything, its be prepared. Been looking at clutch kits and can find plenty, for either dual mass or solid flywheels, so the question is:

HOW DO I FIND OUT IF THE CAR HAS A DUAL MASS OR SOLID FLYWHEEL WITHOUT TAKING THE TRANSMITION OFF?

 

Help please.

 

Stu

 

[Bimmer Owners Club]

Hi Stu...welcome to the Club

Looks like you've picked up a great car there....worth spending the money on by the sound of it.

Not 100% sure for BMW's but I would use a parts website (Eurocarparts or similar) and see if a DMF is listed for it.

If there is the option of both, then I think it is a case of finding out once you have the gearbox down.

Don's think there is any other way of telling by driving (unless its knackered and it will rattle on start up and shut down)

Let us know how you get on with it

Cheers,   Trevor

[Greydog]

www.realoem.com is your friend for this put the last 7 digits of your vin in and it will bring up a parts list for your cars build. Just did a general search Dual Mass.

 

Enjoy your new to you Beemer

[Stued]

Hi thanks for the welcome, did a bit more digging, isn't realoem just the dogs...……….. I do like technical drawings....

Anyway I intend doing the clutch myself, now as with everything you can go cheap, middle of the road or eyewatering with respect to buying the clutch kit, but according to all I have read you need some fantastic superdooper specialist tools to set the SACS pressure plate up. so its £300 for the kit and another £150 for the tools.

In the process of looking for the correct kit I came across a conversion kit, to change the Dual Mass flywheel to a Solid one for about the same price, comes with a clutch kit, need to do a bit more digging to find out if the pressure plate is SACS.

so does anyone know the following:

Is there a technical advantage for changing to a solid flywheel?

Is the Dual Mass flywheel just a gimmick to generate after sales profit?

would I have to change the fork, slave cylinder after fitting the conversion kit if the pressure plate is not SACS?

 

[Greydog]

You can also try newtis.info for information and of course You Tube, engineers hat on now in their pursuit of smoothness (reduced NVH) manufacturers moved away from solid flywheels and front pulleys and produced them on two parts bonded together with rubber.

It's a system which works really well until they start to fail then they are a massive pain you should be able to change to a solid set up the only tool we didn't have when we did my sons Toyota pickup was the puller for the pilot bearing in the crank shaft. He hired one from a local garage.

Good Luck with the swap

[Stued]

Wow, newtis.info that is a find thank you sir for pointing me in the right direction.

[Stued]

It has been a busy weekend again, repaired the shogun, removed the rust from the front arches on the 330 filled, sanded and painted them. Pictures attached.

[Greydog]

OOO Shiney looking good Stuart the 3 coupe is one of the prettiest  cars on the road you found a gem by the look of it

Now just the clutch may as well tidy up the engine bay while your there, interior clean, mirrors to auto open/close on Lock/Unlock rear view camera etc etc etc, Love it